Conference Summary
Annual Meeting for the Society for Applied Anthropology
March 25-29, 2008, Memphis, Tennessee

Kathleen Van Vlack
PhD Candidate
American Indian Studies GIDP

I received the Herbert E. Carter award to help finance my trip to the 2008 Society for Applied Anthropology meeting in Memphis, Tennessee. This conference brings together scholars and researchers who work towards the integration of anthropological perspectives and methods in solving human problems throughout the world and who advocate for fair and just public policy based upon sound research.

For this conference, I organized and co-chaired a session entitled: Conservation through Culture: Understanding Traditional Natural Resource Management in Native North America. This session focused on Native American traditional environmental management and roles social scientists have in helping to facilitate the return of these practices. As part of this panel, I presented my Masters Thesis research on the Southern Paiute traditional leadership and the concept of environmental multiplicity.

I was able to use my time at the conference to attend many sessions and network with other people working on environmental issues and conservation. These topics match my areas of interest and study.